"Citizen Schools": Mentors Working with, not Against, Teachers?

by Clay Burell · 2009-01-29 07:57:00 UTC
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mentors-rockReally interesting video below from the George Lucas Educational Foundation's Edutopia about "Citizen Schools." From what I can see, Citizen Schools does not aim to compete with teacher unions, á la Teach for America, but instead to supplement and support them by providing a mentorship program after school, in which adults from the larger community teach students all sorts of new things, or help them with basic studies. If true, that's a model I can get behind.

From the site:

Through the Citizen Schools program, professionals team up with public schools to create an enhanced learning community after the school day ends.

The notions of mentoring and apprenticeship, of greater community involvement in schools, are powerfully attractive things, on the surface. Is there anything underneath this, though, that worries advocates of public education out there?

I'm curious to learn more about this and report back later. But in the meantime, watch the video, and share your thoughts and/or knowledge about it all.

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Watch more videos about starting your own mentoring program in the series of videos here.

Clay Burell
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